Authorities seize more than 36,000 marijuana plants grown illegally on farmland in Sacramento County

Earlier this week, state and local investigators seized more than 36,000 illegally grown marijuana plants from 10 locations hidden among legal crops on farmland in the Sacramento County Delta area.

The “cartel-related grow sites” found are on private property and the marijuana was grown without the knowledge or consent of the landowners, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said Friday.

Investigators believe these hidden marijuana grow sites are the work of drug cartels, and no arrests have been made in connection with this week’s seizures, said Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Amar Gandhi.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, those who illegally plant marijuana and operate these grow sites place the marijuana plants among the landowner’s legitimate crops to hide them.

Gandhi said the marijuana plants found this week were hidden among large corn stalks and other crops, making the marijuana plants invisible from nearby rural roads. He said investigators — wearing tactical gear attached to rope and harnesses — were dropped from a helicopter to reach the secret grow sites.

The people who grow marijuana adhere to harvest schedules and typically work on the sites in the middle of the night to avoid farm workers or landowners, the sheriff’s spokesman said.

“These guys are very good and creative,” Gandhi said of those who were growing marijuana illegally. “These guys are not stupid. They go deep (into the farmland).”

Detectives seized a total of 36,524 marijuana plants during a two-day enforcement operation conducted Monday and Tuesday by the Central Valley California High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, a regional task force made up of federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies.

Several Sacramento Sheriff’s Department officers were assigned to the regional task force and participated in the marijuana operation in conjunction with the California Eradication and Prevention of Illicit Cannabis Program, which focuses on investigating and prosecuting civil and criminal cases involving illegal cannabis cultivation, with an emphasis on environmental harm, economic harm and labor exploitation.

Gandhi said some of the marijuana plants were collected as samples to be used as evidence in the ongoing investigation, and the rest of the seized marijuana was destroyed.

Investigators also found portable water pumps and power generators at the sites that were used to grow the marijuana, Gandhi said. The sheriff’s office declined to name nearby roads where the marijuana was found, saying investigators were still searching for other illegal grow sites.

“These illegal operations disrupt local farmers’ crops, steal their water and electricity, and negatively impact the environment with their waste and the toxic chemicals they use during their illegal marijuana grow operations,” sheriff’s officials said in a Facebook post.